


Humanity's Enduring Asset

by flurblewig



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: F/F, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-24
Updated: 2010-01-24
Packaged: 2017-10-06 15:44:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flurblewig/pseuds/flurblewig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Futurefic AU.  Dawn comes fully into her Key powers and Kate can only watch...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Humanity's Enduring Asset

It's not really possible to be in love with Dawn. For a start, she's not quite human. Not any more. Assuming, of course, that she ever really was to start with. Kate's not entirely sure. The jury's still out on that one, and not likely to be returning any time soon. Quite frankly, they've got more pressing matters on their minds. Like staying alive.

It's easy to respect Dawn - and to need her, to be more than a little afraid of her. But love? That's tough. To love someone there's got to be something about them that you can reach. Dawn is all hard angles and cold surfaces and unimaginable distance.

But since they lost the last of the Slayers, she's all they have left. She's all that keeps them alive, all that keeps them going. She makes them pretend they have hope.

Kate struggles to keep up, the weight of the weapons she's carrying making her back and shoulders ache. She wipes sweat out of her eyes, the sun beating down as relentlessly as ever. The light catches on Dawn's skin, and Kate fancies that she can see the bones glowing underneath it. Or maybe it's not just a fancy.

There's something wrong with the way the world works these days, they've known that for ages. Sunlight that doesn't burn vampires, darkness that eats holes in buildings or bodies. The world's changing, and humans don't really fit any more. They don't know why, or how - the people who might have understood are long gone - but they know they're on borrowed time.

And yet still they don't give up. Sometimes, that makes Kate proud. Most times though, she just thinks it demonstrates an unrelenting stupidity.

Not that she excuses herself from that judgement; she's here, isn't she? Just like she is every week without fail. She still follows Dawn out to the old rendezvous point, still dresses in a uniform chosen to be a symbol of authority and control - chosen to comfort and calm hysterical survivors. You're okay now, it was supposed to say. You're safe.

And yes, it used to work. People did respond to it, even thought they must have known that the idea of the police still having any kind of control over the city was laughable.

Kate shakes her head. Stupidity: humanity's enduring asset.

There haven't been any survivors at the pick-up point for a long time now. The signal's still transmitting, but no-one responds. Not any more.

Dawn still comes, though. Still checks the equipment, still repairs the fence, still waits for stragglers who aren't ever going to arrive.

And Kate still goes with her. It doesn't tell her anything about herself that she doesn't already know.

She flexes her hand, which has started to cramp. She rubs it, trying to massage some flexibility back into the fingers. She needs her sword hand to be working, because they'll be a fight. There always is.

The dragons and demons seem mostly content to eat each other, but there's always at least one that works out their timetable and decides to try its luck from the old gourmet menu.

Kate's not really needed, but she likes to be ready just in case. She knows that Dawn's starting to think she's immortal and in all honesty she could be right, but Kate doesn't particularly want to see the theory put to the test.

When they get to the warehouse, Dawn kisses her. It's hard and deep and passionate, and it's one of the things that keeps Kate taking one breath after another, but it's not loving. She thinks all the love in Dawn got burned up along with Faith. How do you hope to fill the shoes of a Slayer? You don't, of course. You don't even try.

She's not enough, she knows that. She breaks too easily to give Dawn what she needs. The best she can do is watch her back while she takes it from somewhere else.

The demon arrives almost exactly on cue, stalking across the filthy floor towards them. It's grey and scrawny-looking and empty-handed, apparently just relying on teeth and claws for weapons. Must be new to the area. Most that try it are. The locals have learned better.

Kate looks away as Dawn reaches for the little remote control unit clipped to her belt. A big part of her wishes Dawn wouldn't do this. She's a superb fighter and heals with a speed that almost seems miraculous, but still. There's no such thing as a fight that isn't dangerous, and this - this _distraction_ \- just makes it worse.

She looks back, though, almost immediately. She always does.

She can't resist watching. It's at times like this that Dawn is at her most breathtaking; her hair streaming behind her as she whirls and kicks. Her body is lean and spare and looks almost brittle until you see her fight. Then she becomes like fluid steel, bending and flying and destroying.

The grey demon is no match for her. It seems half-dead on its feet already, and she's just toying with it. It lands a lucky blow to her cheek and she spins, rolling with the force of the punch. Kate sees her face as it connects, watches the flush of pleasure suffuse her translucent skin. Her head is thrown back and her eyelids half-closed, and Kate feels her own body react to the sight as she imagines her fingers being where she knows the little vibrator is. Imagines that it's her touch making Dawn glow like this, making her come alive.

She moans softly, switching her sword to her left hand so that her right can be free to go where she needs it to go. Dawn slams the demon into the wall, her breathing coming hard. Her eyes are wide open now, glittering with something dark and feral that makes Kate's blood - and her fingers - race almost painfully fast.

Her breath catches in her throat as Dawn leans forward and seizes hold of the demon's spiny head. She twists in one smooth, vicious movement, the sound of its scream breaking off and being replaced by Dawn's own as she comes, sinking to her knees in a spreading pool of dark blood.

Kate swallows her own cry, then quickly gets herself together. If there was one demon there could be more, and Dawn's vulnerable for these few seconds. She grips her sword, her eyes scanning the warehouse, but there's nothing.

She steps forward, offering her hand to help Dawn to her feet. Sometimes she takes it, but not today.

Kate stands guard by the door while Dawn brushes herself down. They'll wait patiently and uselessly for the allotted hour, and then they'll go home.

It's not really possible to be in love with Dawn. But Kate's only human, and she tries anyway.

 

-end-


End file.
